Manchester United have won the Premier League title thirteen times. Chelsea have won it five times and Manchester City have won it twice.
Sandwiched in between City and Chelsea is Arsenal, who have won it three times, but that was back in the days when they were quite good, days which are unlikely to return as long as they, and their manager, continue to stick their heads in the sand in the forlorn belief that he will be able to compete with the new kids on the block at any time soon.
Their riches also do not amount to as much as any of the “big three” which means that they will either always be picking up players unwanted by the others, or scouting very good players for themselves, as they used to do very successfully.
No, the immediate threat to the big three will not come from Arsenal, it will come from the Merseyside clubs and Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool had the foresight to employ Jürgen Klopp when they decided, quite rightly, that Brendan Rodgers was not the answer. Although Klopp hasn’t exactly set the world alight yet, he has reached two finals, the EFL Cup and the Europa League. He lost both but the fact of the matter is that it showed he could take the team to the finals of competition both domestically and in Europe.
He now needs to find a consistency of performance in order to challenge for the big prizes. Two seasons ago his team weren’t quite good enough to win the Europa League but have now improved significantly. They need to improve more to have a chance in the Champion’s League and even more to challenge for the Premier League.
Expect a couple more arrivals at Anfield as Klopp looks for the solutions to his new set of problems.
Everton decided that Roberto Martinez was not the answer at Goodison Park and replaced him with Ronald Koeman. Koeman is not yet considered to be at the level of Conte, Mourinho or Guardiola but he is quietly enhancing his reputation having seamlessly continued the good work of Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton despite, as usual, losing his best players.
This work is now in evidence at Everton and is beginning to gather pace thanks to the money made available by Farhad Moshiri.
Several signings have been made including that of Wayne Rooney who, the fans will be hoping, will find a new lease of life back at Goodison.
Next season may be too early to think in terms of a title challenge but the following season may see a return of the euphoria which was around during the reign of Howard Kendall.
Tottenham Hotspur are the enigma amongst the top seven as they appear to be progressing very nicely without adding any superstar names to their ranks.
This proves something we have been advocating all along; that an efficient scouting system will not only save the club a fortune in transfer fees but it will also provide some very good players. Players in whom Daniel Levy will see a massive profit potential in the future should they need to be sold on, but who can also serve Spurs very well in the meantime.
So Pochettino and Koeman are quietly getting on with the job whilst Klopp is doing the same but not quite as quietly. Arséne Wenger has decided that, as the old Messiah, he is perfectly placed to be the new Messiah which should see Arsenal remain outside the top four for the next two years at least.
The threat to the big three remains real but maybe only until they decide to spend big in order to widen the gap again.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 